Daddy

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Daddys Boots/Mommys Boots- Challenges for
Young Children who Face the Deployment of a Parent

• Alliance Webinar
• Heather M. Hebdon and Adriana Martinez
• Specialized Training Of Military Parents (STOMP)

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Information to be covered

• Data on current Deployment of Service Members
• Research on impact to families and children
• Strategies for helping children
• Resources available to assist families and
  providers

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Who is in the Military?

• DOD Demographics show
• - 1.4 million active duty military
• - 1.1 million reserve and national guard
  personnel
• - 800,000 Department of Defense civilians

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Who is the Military?

• 54.6 of Active Duty personnel are married
• 53.8 of Reserve and National Guard are married
• 51.2 of spouses of active duty are less than 30
  years old
• 26.8 of reserve/national Guard spouses are less
  than 30
• 5.4 of active duty members are single parents
• 8.2 are reserve/national guard
• ½ of military were between the 20-25 when their
  first child was born
• Total family members of active duty and
  reserve/National Guard 3,006,793

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What about the Families?

• 43 of Military Forces have children
• 39.8 of Dependent Children of active duty
  personnel are under the age of 5
• 32 are between the ages 6 and 11
• Only 4 are 19 years or older

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Special needs families

• 14.6 of the military Population has an
  Exceptional Family Member (EFM)
• 15.6, Army
• 12.4 Marines,
• 10.5 Navy and
• 9.8 Air Force
• (U.S Armed Forces Demographic information EFMP
   2006 )
• Students receiving special education/early
  intervention services 9-11 of school population
  (DODEA)
• DODEA serves students in 18 countries 17 school
  systems within the USA

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The Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP)

• EFMP has mandatory enrollment of family members
  with disabilities
• Assistance may come through EFMP, Family Service
  Center, Family Advocacy Programs
• Level of service and support varies among
  branches of service
• only consistent is the program codes used when
  service member receives orders
• there is recognition of potential service needs. 
  
• Having a family member enrolled in the EFM
  program DOES NOT eliminate
• Service member going on deployments or overseas
  assignments
• Service member being transferred to locations
  that do not have services for the EFM
  (un-accompanied tours)

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Deployments of Parents

• 51 of personnel who have been deployed two or
  more times have at least 1 dependent child
• 14.6 of personnel deployed are women
• In 2005, number of Parents lost to the War 674
  leaving 1,491 children to mourn

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Military Research Studieson impact to children

• Studies have been occurring for past six years
• Most recent study done through joint agreement
  encompassing three age groups and locations

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Where has the research come from?

• Department of Veterans Affairs
• U.S. Army War College
• DoD Medical Services
• Contractual studies through Purdue and University
  of North Carolina
• Current study jointly tasked encompassing
• Walter Reed Army Medical Center,
• Beaumont Army Medical Center,
• Camp LeJeune, and
• Madigan Army Medical Center

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Babies in the 1st year of age

• Reactions vary based on comfort of the caregiver
• Respond to changes in schedule, environment, and
  availability of care giver
• Disruptions can cause difficulties, but no
  finding that these are higher in infants of
  deployed service members

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Toddlers 1-3 years of Age

• Clingy
• Cries easily
• Develops temper tantrums
• Disturbances in sleep patterns
• Regression in skills (i.e. potty training)
• Findings show that behaviors are higher in
  toddlers of deployed service members when spouse
  is also under stress

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Pre-schoolers ages 3-6

• Greater awareness of absence of parent
• Regressive behaviors are prevalent
• Irritability
• Depression personalize reason for parent
  leaving
• Separation anxiety
• Studies show almost twice as likely to
  demonstrate these issues when parent is deployed

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School Age children (6-12)

• Sleep issues
• Irritability
• Whininess
• Unfounded worries
• Internalizing fears
• Some disruptive behaviors, but not usually
  aggressive
• Psychosocial morbidity of children of deployed
  service members is twice the national average

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Interesting Finding for school age children

• When non-deployed parent is working outside the
  home the morbidity rate drops to only slightly
  higher than the national norms.
• Reasons are not clear but could be associated
  with involvement with other care givers in
  childs life (more study is being done on this)

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Teenagers (13-18)

• Irritability
• Rebelliousness
• Sullen
• Shuts down communication
• Anxiety demonstrated in behaviorally destructive
  ways
• Markedly higher psychosocial morbidity over
  national norms (between 1.5 and 2x higher)

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Realities

• Children face a loss of stability
• Deployments interrupt the normal order of routine
  life (especially difficult for children of guard
  and reserve)
• Loss of Control
• Deployments represent events over which the child
  has no control
• Concerns/Fears
• Immediate reactions can include fear for their
  own safety and well-being (What happens if
  Dad/Mom doesnt come home?)

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Strategies

• Encourage talking about fears
• Be honest
• School personnel need to be aware of possible
  changes in academic, eating, or playing patterns
  and report changes
• Maintain regular schedules as much as possible
• Encourage non-deployed parent to take care of her
  or himself
• Encourage child to express him/herself through
  art, music, play

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What about Respite?

• Respite Care is available in varying degrees for
  Army, Marines, and Navy
• Currently there are no Respite care programs for
  the Air Force or Reserves.
• Families must meet the qualifying criteria
• Only for Active Duty personnel
• Not for activated National Guard and Reserves

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Resources

• "Sesame Street's " Talk, Listen, Connect Helping
  Families During Military Deployment Videos
• http//archive.sesameworkshop.org/tlc/
• Military OneSource for Family and spouse
  counseling
• Family Readiness Groups for support
• Chaplains
• CDs developed to help families
• Deployment kits developed by DOD
• http//www.defenselink.mil/ra/documents/toolkit/Fa
  milyReadinssToolkit0308.pdf
• Educators Guide to the Military Child during
  Deployment
• http//www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/os/homefront/
  homefront.pdf

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Additional Resources

• Exceptional Family Member Programs
• Each branch has their own
• USMC EFMP http//www.usmc-mccs.org/efmp/index.cfm
• Army EFMP http//www.myarmylifetoo.com/skins/malt/
  display.aspx?Actiondisplay_pagemodeUserModuleI
  D8cde2e88-3052-448c-893d-d0b4b14b31c4ObjectIDe1
  217403-aa93-4158-8cf2-bf90de934a56
• Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs) or hospitals
• National Guard Command
• http//www.ngb.army.mil/default.aspx)
• Family Support Centers
• Each branch has their own
• School Liaison Officers
• Army and Marine Corps only

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• It does take a village to raise a child to be
  resilient, especially with a war going on,

Col. George Patrin, MD Chief California Medical
Detachment Presidio of Monterey Army Health
Clinic, California
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Resources that may help

• Military OneSource
• www.militaryonesource.com
• Military Homefront
• www.militaryhomefront.dod.mil
• The Special Needs Network
• www.specialneedsnetwork.net
• Air Force Crossroads
• Installation, relocation information
• www.afcrossroads.com
• The National Military Family Association
• www.nmfa.org/

• Department of Defense Education Activity
• www.odedodea.edu
• TRICARE
• www.tricare.osd.mil
• Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC)
• www.militarychild.org
• The STOMP Listserv
• Daily exchange of information support To join
  send a blank email to stomp_at_topica.com

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Questions?